Abstract: China is the origin of tea and the first black tea export country in the world. Tea, particularly black tea was one of the most important trade commodities on the Chinese ancient Silk Road. Here, the trade profile of China's black tea export to countries along the belt was first described and the main factors affecting the black tea export was analyzed. The expanded trade gravity model was applied to analyze the influencing factors of China's black tea export to countries along the belt. Empirical analysis shows that the average export price of Chinese black tea, the growth of the distance between China and the importing countries of black tea, and the exchange rate of RMB were significantly but negatively correlated with Chinese black tea export. The population growth of the importing countries and the GDP growth of China and the importing countries had a significant and positive impact on China's black tea export.

Key words: China's black tea, export, the Belt and Road, trade